


refresh the page

by alkhale



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Formerly one-sided attraction, Getting Together, Humor, Mild Drama, Romance, Slight pining, typetober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26767111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alkhale/pseuds/alkhale
Summary: Most people aspire for tastes that never really seem to be the kind to be anything more than… well, nothing particularly out of the ordinary. They like people with spunk, people who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. He likes kind people too, people who are shy and sweet and calm, he can find that perfectly fine in a person. He’s not particularly picky. Hirugami likes well-natured girls who like animals.Hoshiumi’s just…“I don’t know,” Hoshiumi says. Hirugami looks at him. “That was kind of hot.”Always liked people who spark.Hirugami drops his creampan sandwich, jaw dropping.
Relationships: Hoshiumi Kourai/Reader
Comments: 28
Kudos: 405





	refresh the page

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for the ko-fi request! I'm killing two birds with one stone on this one too since I'm also using it for the typetober challenge I'm doing. The theme is "refresh the page."
> 
> This guy doesn't get enough love and I love Hoshiumi, HAHAHA. Please expect more for this gremlin.

“Yikes, that doesn’t look too good.”

Hoshiumi stops just short of downing the rest of his milk, holding the bottle in the air. The two of them had just been on their way to their last class before club and practice. Hoshiumi raises a brow. He turns around, looking up at Hirugami who's stopped at the edge of the school courtyard, looking a bit worried but somewhat amused. Hoshiumi follows his teammate’s line of sight to the commotion at the center of the courtyard, wide in the open for anyone from the windows or from the outskirts like where they’re standing to see.

Two people are at the center. A guy Hoshiumi doesn’t really recognize wearing a third year uniform and you—a second year like them, he realizes. You’re in their class. You sit to the back and don’t say much, he only remembers this because on opening ceremony you—

“Should we call a teacher?” Hirugami wonders. Hoshiumi looks at him in disbelief. “I think this isn’t going to end well…”

“What are you talking about?” Hoshiumi says in disbelief. A fight? Between the two of you? “It just looks like they’re—”

Hirugami shakes his head with a wince. Hoshiumi arches a brow, squinting at the two of you to get a better look. The body language between the two of you is plenty different enough. The third year boy looks apologetic, hands open and face expressive as he says something to you. He seems to be pleading, trying to placate you as he gently motions his hands, almost gentle. Hoshiumi can’t see your face, your back turned to him. But he _does_ see the rigid outline of your slim shoulders, the steady, braced stance of your feet and the way the wind plays with the ends of your hair.

You look like you’re ready to take on any spiker across the net. Block out any attempt through.

(You look like you don’t plan on backing down.)

Hoshiumi watches, little sparks catching at the corner of his eyes. He gets an itch in his fingers.

“What are they even fighting about?” a girl says from a few feet away. “This is so embarrassing… isn’t she mortified?”

“Who even admits that kind of stuff out loud?” another girl adds. Hoshiumi raises a brow. He’d missed the first half of the argument.

Hirugami starts to look around the courtyard, trying to find a teacher with his eyes. Hoshiumi keeps watching you, a bit riveted, a bit lost in some old thoughts. The boy starts to say something else, gently reaching for your hand and bringing his face closer to yours.

 _He’s about to kiss you._ Hoshiumi realizes. The itch disappears and he grips the neck of his milk bottle a little tighter. Well, it seemed like it was just a lover’s spat after all. He didn’t know what Hirugami was thinking—

Before the guy’s hands can touch yours, you rip it straight up. The way your fingers move is one smooth, nice arching of your palm that makes Hoshiumi think you’ve got potential to be one great opposite hitter, even the sound of the connection sounds good—

_Slap!_

Oh, wait.

The slap you deliver to the boy is enough to have someone seeing stars. A few people gasp at how hard the guy’s head snaps sideways from the now swelling read impact. Hirugami recoils with a wince, touching his own cheek. The third year grabs the side of his face, taking a knee from the entire impact and looking up at you in disbelief.

“W-W…” he fumbles. The boy is a little teary in one eye, grabbing his ballooning cheek. “Are you _crazy_?”

You turn a bit. Hoshiumi turns his own head to get a better look at the side of your face. The hint of your expression is cold as ice, eyes darkened as you look down on the boy. Both your hands reach out, almost gently ruffling the top of his hair.

“Oh, god,” Hirugami turns around. “Someone call a teacher!”

Hoshiumi blinks.

Your fingers grip the top of his head, grabbing it in a fistful and rushing it forward, straight into your knee. A howl of pain fills the courtyard, blood dripping down the guy’s nose, staining the front of your skirt while you stand over him, seething and yelling obscene curses. Your hands shoot up to deliver a further beating, but a teacher is already running toward you, a group of the guy’s friends getting in between before you can do more damage to the third year.

“You’re the crazy one, you piece of scum shit!” you holler, waving your hands, fighting against the gym teacher’s grip. “If I ever see your stupid face again, you’re fucking dead!”

“Oh my god, she’s insane,” a girl says. “She’s _crazy._ Let’s get out of here.”

“What a psycho.”

Hoshiumi doesn’t really say anything. He watches the gym teacher haul you off, almost snorting when your shoe comes flying and smacks into the back of the guys head with deadly accuracy, even after you disappear around the corner. Students all break out into a loud clamor, whispering to each other and making a fuss while some people come to the boy’s aid, helping him up and rubbing his back while he cups his bloody nose.

“Well, that’s that,” Hirugami sighs. “It seems like he was in the wrong, but I can’t really say I condone violence. That was messy.”

Most people aspire for tastes that never really seem to be the kind to be anything more than… well, nothing particularly out of the ordinary. They like people with spunk, people who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. He likes kind people too, people who are shy and sweet and calm, he can find that perfectly fine in a person. He’s not _particularly_ picky. Hirugami likes well-natured girls who like animals.

Hoshiumi’s just…

“I don’t know,” Hoshiumi says. Hirugami looks at him. “That was kind of hot.”

Always liked people who _spark._

Hirugami drops his creampan sandwich, jaw dropping.

* * *

Hoshiumi doesn’t particularly think he’s a wild guy. He uses his head. He doesn’t always pick fights but he’s not afraid to do it either. He’ll spit back if he’s spat on. He’ll speak in kind to the kindness he’s given. You can’t just be all brawn on the court, and he knows that better than anyone else. If you’re a few inches behind the other guy, you seem like you’re a few inches behind everything else.

He makes up for it in ferocity. In the cold, sweltering _heat_ behind a hit that lands with fluidness across the other side of the court. With blocks that leave tall, towering giants cursing his name for the rest of their lives. He lives for those moments. For the way everything sparks to life and his feet leave the ground and he feels like he can do anything.

It’s refreshing.

* * *

“Apparently he cheated on her.”

Hoshiumi catches the volleyball he’d been about to toss up into the air. Hirugami’s words settle in his head, filling in the little corners and gaps of Hoshiumi’s mind that’s already started to connect the dots before he can even really think about it.

“The couple from the courtyard. I didn’t realize she was in our class,” Hirugami says. “(L/n) (Y/n).”

Around them their teammates continue to practice. Even Hirugami continues to do his stretches beside him, but Hoshiumi’s listening, perked up like the white tufts of his hair and attentive. 

“She was in our class last year too,” Hoshiumi says. Hirugami looks surprised.

“I never noticed. Do you know her well?”

Hoshiumi’s a little too prideful and a little too bitter about that thought to say _no_ , so he says nothing at all. Hirugami continues anyway, unbothered, he talks like an old lady at the market talking about the weather. “They’ve been dating since their last year of middle school. Apparently there’s always been a few girls who liked him, but they seemed pretty well off.”

Hoshiumi twists the familiar ball in his hands. The words leaving Hirugami’s lips start to settle in the pit of his gut like bile. There’s a part of him, a better part, that’s already reminding himself of the fact that _cheated_ must surely mean the two of you are now broken up, so he shouldn’t even really care about it.

Cheated.

A different feeling returns in Hoshiumi’s gut. The kind that threatens to pop the ball in his hands. 

“Take it with a grain of salt,” Hirugami says, “since it was some girls from class who told me. They seem to be on the guy’s side. She’s been pretty abusive in the relationship or always getting mad, and he’d started talking to another girl and caught him so she lashed out.”

Hoshiumi thinks then, about a warm spring day around this time last year. He thinks about the long, uphill walk to the otherside of the campus. The memory of students fresh admitted into their school with flowers pinned to their lapels and the faint hint of salt in the air from the ocean just feet below the rock alcove where a road circles the school and the sea meets the land. 

There’s the memory of you and your back. Of your skirt hiking up over a pair of black tights. Of your hands reaching for the next rock on a jutting cliffside and sparse hillside flowers bobbing in the salty air.

(It’s refreshing.)

“Oh, yeah?” Hoshiumi says with a bite. “What do you think?”

“I got a little curious,” Hirugami admits. “Got to say, I think it was his fault.”

Hoshiumi’s hackles drop. His grip on the ball loosens. Hirugami grins a bit, like he might’ve seen right through him. Hoshiumi ignores his friend, rolling the ball smoothly between his fingertips and waiting for the damn guy to continue.

“Talked to a few guys on his club,” Hirugami says. “We go to the same prep school.”

Hirugami shakes his head. “She caught them in the club room.”

“And no one believes her?”

“When you act in a way that’s easy for people to find dislikable,” Hirugami says, reaching forward and grabbing his ankles tightly. “It tends to be that way.”

“Piece of shit.”

Hirugami raises a slightly intrigued brow, looking over his shoulder to wear Hoshiumi looks ready to tear someone a new one. He just might. _You had everything and you messed up, stupid asshole._ He almost wishes he’d been the one to knock that guy to his feet that day.

“...I hear her suspension is done tomorrow.”

Hoshiumi almost drops the volleyball, whipping his head around to stare at Hirugami. His friend tries to hold back his laughter with a cough, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. “She got off on good behavior.”

Hoshiumi stares at his friend for a second longer before he snorts, turning forward and narrowing his eyes across the court. Hoshiumi tosses the ball up, muscles bunching up underneath him, coiling and coiling and coiling until he flies—higher and higher and his hand connects, arching the way he remembers yours doing until it hits.

The ball sails across the net, slamming into the other court. It’s an amazing serve.

(He thinks the ball’s on his side with this one.)

* * *

“Ugh, I can’t believe she’s back already.”

“You think she’d be suspended longer.”

Hoshiumi half-listens to the way the kids talk on their way out the classroom as he’s on his way in. It’s his turn to help clean up and he’s got a bit of time to work with since practice is cancelled today. _Still gonna hit later though._ The room’s dimly lit up in an orange kind of glow, bathing everything and tinting it with the sun setting outside.

“Oh, Hoshiumi-san, good luck at your next game!”

“Tell Hirugami-kun good luck for us too!”

Hoshiumi doesn’t agree to do either of those things, looking ahead and ignoring them completely. They giggle, smiling brightly as they scamper off. Plenty of girls try to brave his sometimes intimidating glances to try to get into good graces with his teammate. Hirugami’s an easily likable kind of guy, with a soft smile and seemingly well-natured demeanor. They ought to just see how ruthless he can be on the court though.

His eyes scan the classroom before they land on what he’d been looking for.

Your back is to him again. You’ve got it pulled back over your shoulder, showing off the smooth, tiny expanse of your neck to him. Hoshiumi steps into the classroom, closing the door behind him with enough noise so you know he’s there. You don’t turn to look though, seemingly absorbed in something you’re holding.

The textbooks are already organized into neat little piles against the wall. Hoshiumi quickly scans the rest of the room, realizing with a bit of a start that it seems like all the other duties are already done—it literally looks like the only thing left is to wipe down the chalkboard.

He feels a little offended, but he’s not sure why.

“I already finished everything,” you say over your shoulder. Hoshiumi freezes for a split second, dropping his bag on top of one of the desks in the back. It’s where you normally sit, looking up at the ceiling instead of paying attention during class. “You just have to do the chalkboard…. I heard you’re part of the volleyball club, right?”

Hoshiumi perks up, watching you avidly. “Yeah.”

The words taste kind of sweet on his tongue. It feels like a point. Another score toward the win. You’ve only just started talking, but he feels—

_Excited._

“...my little sister plays too,” you admit. “I know practices can get long, so you can get there earlier. I saw you don’t normally slack off, so I figured it’d be fine since I had some time to kill.”

Hoshiumi starts to make his way toward the front of the classroom where you lean back against the teacher’s podium. His eyes sweep, up and down over the back of your head to your shoulder blades, down to your black tights peeking from under the desk.

He sees a small rip behind the back of your knees.

Hoshiumi imagines the satisfying _smack_ of a block. A block he made. Another point he scored.

There’s a rustle of paper. Hoshiumi comes up close enough to see over the corner of your shoulder and he blinks. The pages are colorful, filled with carefully illustrated and detailed pictures of crepes of all assortments. You seem riveted, enviously eyeing the plump red strawberries and chocolate covered bananas and Hoshiumi thinks—

This is probably what it feels like when everything's meant to go right.

“Hey,” Hoshiumi says, voice a little rough. “Thanks for doing all that.”

You blink, roused from your crepe daydreams and finally turn to look at him.

Your expression is gentle and open. Not mean, not rude, not ready to bite someone’s head off the way people like to make it seem. You’ve got bright eyes, the kind that seem like they spark at the corners, that light up and take everything with them. You’re hopelessly cute, he thinks, even if you’re grudgingly half a head taller than him.

(He’s always thought you were.)

“Oh, it’s no problem,” you say amiably, putting the magazine down into your lap. “It’s… Hoshiumi, right?” It’s a spunky quirk you don’t add the honorifics, and he thinks he likes it. “You’re really good. At volleyball, I mean. Good work.”

Hoshiumi feels like he’s doubled in size. He’ll take down the guy who ever thought he could put anything but a smile on your face later. Show him a thing or two. The fluff of his hair stands on end and he grins, taking in your words of praise.

A faint smile curls over your lips, looking a little thoughtful as you half-turn from him. “Hoshiumi… wow, that’s a great name. I love it. I’m jealous.”

Hoshiumi sees the score turning in his head. He sees the matchpoint waiting just on the horizon.

You suddenly turn back to him, eyes round as you try to make out his face, as though realizing something. Hoshiumi waits, preening a bit under the sudden inspection, one hand easy in his pocket while the other hangs at his side as he watches you. “...actually, did we meet any other time? Like outside of school or something?”

“Probably,” he says. You grin a bit, nodding, but still look a little mystified. “But you know, my practice is actually cancelled today.”

“Oh, really?” you look almost embarrassed for a second before shaking your head. “Works out then, I guess. You can just go home sooner—”

“Want to go get crepes?”

You look up at Hoshiumi in sharp surprise, stunned. You’re a little startled, as though you can’t imagine how he’s read your mind—ah, you’re a little slow, he realizes. That’s fine. That’s pretty damn cute too. “A-Ah, what? Crepes? You… crepes?”

Hoshiumi leans back, cocking his head a bit as he lowers his eyes and stares down at you with a slow, even kind of grin. “Yeah. Crepes. As thanks, right? Since you did most of the work anyway.”

Your eyes flicker at the prospect, sparkling. There’s a lingering inch of hesitancy, of uncertainty as you seem to try to gauge him and his offer before the overwhelmingly human aspect of craving some interaction over all the shunning at school and emotional drama finally win out. And the promise of the one food you’ve been hopelessly craving but have been far too shy to go and get yourself when the place is such a people hotspot, whether friends or couples. 

“O-Okay,” you say hurriedly, looking more and more excited. “I-If you don’t mind! I mean, if you’re good with it! I, um, I actually know this place and you get a discount if you buy it with another person and—”

“Sure,” Hoshiumi says smoothly. Your eyes light up and you turn entirely toward him, expression shining. “Whatever you want.”

“Okay!” you agree eagerly, sitting up and hurrying suddenly around the classroom. “Okay! T-This is a good chance to get to know each other! I’m (L/n) (Y/n) in case you didn’t know! You always hang around that really tall guy right? Are you teammates? Here, let me get my bag and…”

You clap your hands together, “This is so refreshing!”

Hoshiumi’s back is to you as he stands in front of the chalkboard, quickly erasing everything at frightening speed and slowing down whenever you glance over so you don’t see his haste to take you and get out of here. You don’t see it either, the way his eyes glitter and his expression, eager and swelling in excitement, the way it does when he’s finally met a good opponent across the court, when a challenge comes his way he’s ready to tackle, when—

There’s nothing but excitement and some new height waiting.

The ball lands on the other side of the court. Hoshiumi’s made the winning point.

* * *

One Year Ago, Kamomedai Opening Ceremony

“Argh! How far do they want us to go?” Hoshiumi scowled, finally making up the final set of steps just shy of where the other first years would be meeting for the class photo. “I want to hurry up and check out the gym.”

The salty breeze tickled his nose, ruffling the wild tufts of his hair. Hoshiumi blinked, looking over the metal railing. The school’s cliffside overlooked a deep pool of the ocean, nothing but blue and blue and blue for miles on end. It wasn’t high enough to pose too much of a danger, and plenty of third years did a leap of courage before graduation if they were brave enough for endless good luck and strength to get through the rest of life.

 _You don’t need some rituals for stuff like that._ Hoshiumi scoffed, leaning against the railing. He loosened the collar of his uniform, adjusting the stuffy thing as he reached for his phone. _Where’s Hirugami anyway_ —

A nesting batch of gulls called out, taking flight from their cracks in the cliff. Hoshiumi looked up.

His phone almost slipped from his fingertips.

Your back was to him and the rest of the world. The wind was tugging ferociously at your hair, small hands reaching for the next spot along the cliff wall. Hoshiumi’s eyes went round, jaw going slack in disbelief. Your skirt fluttered around you, revealing the expanse of your dark tights and he flushed for a second.

There was a rip behind the back of your knee where it caught on a bramble. He couldn’t stop watching, staring in a mix of disbelief and riveted awe as you made your way to a flat enough alcove to get a running start.

Your opening ceremony flower flew into the wind. You kicked off your shoes and took off running.

And then—

(You flew.)

You sailed through the air, uniform fluttering around you. 

Hoshiumi’s eyes lit up with stars.

A breathless smile tore over your lips and you broke out in a laugh the wind quickly ripped away, plunging down into the ocean below you. He rushed up to the side of the railing, quickly searching over the top of the waves before he spotted you resurfacing, dipping under the waves before you threw yourself onto your back, distant laughter filling the air.

“This is it!” he heard your voice come up from below. A chill raced down his spine. “It all starts here! I’m going to do something great! I’m going to have a good year!”

Hoshiumi let your words flood his ears. Sparks struck against the corners of his mind. His knuckles gripped the metal railing so hard they almost turned white before he whipped his head to the side in realization, fumbling for his phone.

 _Number._ Hoshiumi thought. He started running, taking off with all the speed he had, jumping over the next set of steps, practically flying. _Number. And a name. Both of them. Right now_ —

Your name.

He had to know the name of the girl he was going to date the living daylights out of.

**Author's Note:**

> \- After Hoshiumi first saw you he rushed to try to get your number, but stopped dead when he saw you, drenched and laughing, coming up onto the shore and hugging your boyfriend.  
> \- His mom and siblings kept bothering him about it for weeks, asking why he was moping and seeming so heartbroken when the school year was just starting. He finally told them all to buzz off and decided it didn't mean he had to give up. Hoshiumi Kourai was never the kind of guy to take things lying down.  
> \- Hoshiumi was always kind of watching you a bit, glancing behind his shoulder at you or following you when you crossed paths in the hall. He probably ended up picking up more information about you in just quietly attention than your own scumbag of a boyfriend did.  
> \- At the end and beginning of every school year he swore he'd go cliff dive too. In hopes he'd meet you there again for a chance to talk and in hopes that it might help him out after all.  
> \- You're a little slow, so even after being long over your relationship with your ex, it takes you a bit to pick up on Hoshiumi's feelings until he makes it obvious enough by kissing the living daylights out of you when you show up to another of his games (you've been hanging out and good friends for the past year)  
> \- Your ex tries to reconcile with you at one point, but before you can beat him up for even trying, Hoshiumi practically brings the scumbag down to his knees for even trying.  
> \- He doesn't tell you till much, much later on, when he eventually offers years later for you to have his name since you like it so much, that he's probably had a thing for you since the day he saw you jump off that cliff.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Any of my writers out there, if you're interested, the typetober prompt list and challenge can be found right here! 
> 
> https://alkhale.tumblr.com/post/630647757471924225/alks-inktypetober-challenge


End file.
